Saints Row: The Third Remastered Review | The Crime Sandbox That Still Has No Indoor Voice
- Niels Gys
- 11 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Quick Verdict
Yes. Saints Row: The Third Remastered is still worth playing in 2026.
Not because it's refined.
Not because it's realistic.
And certainly not because it behaves itself.
It's worth playing because almost every open-world crime game eventually asks you to become a responsible adult with a weapon. Saints Row: The Third asks a much more important question:
"What if organized crime had absolutely no impulse control?"
The criminal fantasy still works brilliantly. Running the Saints means stealing cars, robbing stores, assassinating targets, taking over businesses, wiping rival gangs off the map and gradually turning Steelport into your own purple criminal franchise.
The problem isn't the game.
It's the remaster.
The visual overhaul genuinely improves the presentation, but years later it still carries a noticeably shakier technical reputation than the original release. If your copy behaves itself, you'll have a fantastic time. If it doesn't, you'll quickly discover that random crashes are considerably less entertaining than firing someone out of a cannon.
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Crime Never Pretends To Be The Good Guy
Saints Row stopped competing with GTA the moment it realized the easiest way to beat seriousness was to drive directly through it in a tank covered in bad decisions.
You're the Boss of the Third Street Saints, arriving in Steelport to dismantle the Syndicate's criminal empire before replacing it with your own. The game never apologizes for that premise. It doesn't spend twenty hours pretending you're morally complicated.
You're a gang leader.
Go behave like one.
That means holding up stores, stealing vehicles, running assassination jobs, trafficking drugs, buying criminal fronts, expanding territory and turning rival gangs into tomorrow's missing persons posters.
More importantly, the game rewards those actions. Criminal activity earns money, Respect and city control. Taking over Steelport isn't just a story objective. It's a gameplay loop.
That difference matters.
Plenty of games let you commit crimes.
Saints Row builds an economy around them.
The Real Fantasy Isn't Violence
It's momentum.
Everything feeds everything else.
Activities generate cash.
Cash buys property.
Property produces income.
Income funds upgrades.
Upgrades make city takeover even easier.
Eventually Steelport stops feeling like somewhere you survive and starts feeling like somewhere you own.
After a while, every corner shop looks less like retail and more like another branch office waiting for hostile acquisition.
Completely Ridiculous Is A Feature
Saints Row: The Third understands something a surprising number of sandbox games don't.
Escalation is fun.
The opening bank robbery already tells you subtlety has been murdered and hidden somewhere behind the vault. From there the game keeps raising the stakes with increasingly absurd weapons, increasingly ridiculous missions and enough explosive chaos to qualify as a natural disaster in several countries.
Most games gradually become more serious.
Saints Row gradually loses whatever remaining grip it had on reality.
That's exactly why people still remember it.
Its humour isn't occasional comic relief.
The humour is the identity.
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Age Eventually Collects Its Debt
The sandbox has aged far better than the mission design.
Many story missions remain memorable, but some activities feel like they're still being paid by the hour.
Drug Trafficking drags.
Several helicopter and STAG missions outstay their welcome.
Some diversions keep going long after they've made their point.
The underlying combat is also unmistakably from another era. Functional? Absolutely.
Sophisticated?
Not even remotely.
Eventually every firefight starts solving problems with the same philosophy as a demolition company that's accidentally been given diplomatic immunity.
The Remaster Is Still The Weak Link
The graphics overhaul genuinely succeeds.
Lighting is better.
Characters look substantially improved.
Steelport itself benefits from the facelift.
Unfortunately, the technical reputation never received the same makeover.
The community still reports crashes, graphical glitches and inconsistent performance in 2026. Just as importantly, other players report perfectly stable experiences. That's the awkward part.
This isn't a universally broken remaster.
It's a remaster that still can't quite convince everyone it's dependable.
That uncertainty explains why the original Steam version continues to enjoy significantly stronger user ratings than the Remastered edition despite sharing the same underlying game.
When your remaster becomes the least trusted version of your own game, that's less "technical achievement" and more "plastic surgeon accidentally replacing the patient's eyebrows with two frightened squirrels."
Who Should Play It?
Saints Row: The Third Remastered remains one of the strongest criminal power fantasies ever made if you enjoy:
open-world gang warfare
chaotic sandbox action
dark, ridiculous humour
taking over an entire city piece by piece
games that believe restraint is something other people worry about
Players looking for realistic crime simulation, deep tactical combat or grounded storytelling should probably walk across the street to GTA instead.
Saints Row isn't trying to simulate organized crime.
It's trying to throw organized crime through a plate-glass window while wearing purple sunglasses.
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Verdict
The years haven't dulled what makes Saints Row: The Third special.
It still delivers one of gaming's most entertaining criminal sandboxes because it fully commits to the fantasy instead of apologizing for it halfway through. Building a gang empire, conquering Steelport and embracing increasingly ridiculous criminal chaos remains enormous fun.
Just don't mistake the Remastered label for a guarantee of polish.
The game underneath is still excellent.
The coat of paint occasionally peels.
The Saints are still brilliant criminals.
The remaster is merely their slightly unreliable getaway driver.
FAQ
Is Saints Row: The Third Remastered worth playing in 2026?
Yes. The criminal sandbox is still outrageously entertaining, with gang warfare, city takeover, and absurd weapons carrying the experience. Just be aware that the remaster still has a less consistent technical reputation than the original release.
Is Saints Row: The Third Remastered an open-world crime game?
Absolutely. You spend most of the game stealing cars, robbing stores, assassinating targets, expanding your gang, buying criminal businesses, and taking control of Steelport from rival organizations.
Is Saints Row: The Third Remastered a heist game?
Not really. It opens with a memorable bank robbery and includes robberies throughout the campaign, but the core gameplay revolves around gang warfare and criminal empire-building rather than planning elaborate heists.
Can you play Saints Row: The Third Remastered in co-op?
Yes. The entire campaign supports two-player online co-op, letting you spread chaos across Steelport with a partner.
Is Saints Row: The Third Remastered better than the original?
Visually, yes. Technically, it's more complicated. The remaster looks significantly better, but it has also attracted more reports of crashes and glitches than the original version, making it the less reliable release for some players.
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